Topics of The Times; Trees, Rehabilitated

Published: September 21, 1989

It took eight years, but there's finally a President in the White House who understands about trees. Unless someone is foolish enough to burn them, as Brazilians do, trees are powerful natural detergents, cleaning the air as they breathe.

That's not the way Ronald Reagan saw it. During the 1980 campaign, he asserted that trees caused 93 percent of the nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere. When the campaign plane flew over a forest, Jim Brady, the press secretary, shouted: ''Killer trees! Killer trees!''

Mr. Bush said most Presidents appreciated trees, noting that oaks planted by Dwight D. Eisenhower and elms brought by John Quincy Adams sheltered the White House grounds. Indeed, Adams chose the Latin words ''Alteri seculo'' for his seal. They are from a longer phrase that aptly conveys the truth about trees: